


Inauguration Part III: A New Day

by apocryphile



Category: West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-01
Updated: 2012-04-01
Packaged: 2017-11-02 21:39:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/373622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocryphile/pseuds/apocryphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A post-ep for Inauguration Part II: Over There in an attempt to provide some closure... and inevitably trip headlong into gloriously fluffy AU :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inauguration Part III: A New Day

Leo had tried to send everyone home at 3 and had been variously shouted down or ignored, but two hours later the adrenaline had worn off, the coffee had run out, and Toby had stopped speaking in complete sentences. When between them they failed to work out what time it was in Kundu, CJ announced it was time to call it a night.  
During one of his trips to the Situation Room, Donna had appropriated Josh’s emergency shirt, and he found her tackling the wreckage of their impromptu all-hands strategy session in the Roosevelt Room, her cherubic curls long-since tied up behind her head, shoes gone and makeup slightly smeared, wearing his light blue cotton button-down tied neatly at the waist. The effect of the crisply pressed shirt paired with the voluminous skirt of her evening dress was stunning.  
“Wow.” He swallowed, and tried to raise his voice above a whisper, but he seemed to be having trouble breathing. “You look even more amazing like that.”  
She smiled at him, less hesitantly than she had before, and then glanced around as if ascertaining they really were alone this time. Her gaze fixed on him, she stepped closer and reached out to smooth the ends of his undone bowtie against his chest.  
“You look amazing too.”  
She leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. He felt her lips against his skin for an instant, but she stayed close, her forehead resting against his temple, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like that for a long moment, breathing in sync, before she shifted to stand in front of him.  
“You owe me a dance.”  
He chuckled.  
“ _You_ owe _me_ a dance.”  
For a moment she seemed prepared to argue, drawn up to her full height – which even without her heels he was forced to admit was probably almost equal to his – but then she giggled and took off for the bullpen, dragging him along by the hand.  
He almost laughed when she paused to fix her outfit, discarding the shirt and letting her hair back down, but she silenced him with a serious look. He realised with a pang of protectiveness that she must have imagined this moment in some detail – in an altogether different setting – but he didn’t care to wonder who it was she’d been picturing as her partner. He scrambled for his jacket as she balanced elegantly on one foot then the other, slipping her shoes back on. For a wild moment he mentally catalogued the places within sprinting distance he might find flowers or candles, but abandoned the thought when she nudged his chin up so she could tie his tie for him. He tried to suppress a shiver as her fingers trailed over his neck, deftly adjusting his collar.  
She looked him up and down and nodded, satisfied, before reaching for her CD player. Etta James’s voice filled the semi-darkness, crooning about love and waiting.  
Josh reached out to her.  
“May I have this dance?”  
When she positioned her hands properly, her arms forming a graceful arc, he quashed a pang of disappointment and tried to remember how to do this by the rules. They swayed, more or less rhythmically, until he plucked up the courage to lift her and spin her around. She squealed and burst out into a torrent of giggles, and he spun around again more slowly for good measure.  
“Wild thing, huh?”  
“You bet.”  
She stepped closer, abandoning their attempt at a classic dance frame, one arm around his waist, the other across his shoulders. He ran his hand up her back to gently cradle her head, stroking her hair.  
It wasn’t until CJ cleared her throat behind him that Josh realised they weren’t moving.  
“I asked Jerry to get us cabs. You should get going.”  
Ignoring the press secretary’s stern tone, Josh gave Donna a quick squeeze before letting go.  
“We were just, ah…”  
He glanced around and grabbed his coat off the rack, holding it out to Donna, and then picked up his wallet.  
“…getting ready?”  
“So I see.”  
The smirk that crept onto CJ’s face betrayed the admonishment in her voice, and Josh slung one arm around her shoulders and the other – rather more tightly – around Donna’s waist as they made for the lobby. Toby bellowed at them that if they didn’t hurry up they might as well all stay here, and CJ hustled ahead to whack him with her purse. Behind her back, Josh ground to a halt, steadying Donna beside him with a gentle hand on her abdomen. Checking that the double doors had swung closed again, shielding them from view of the others, he turned her to face him.  
“Am I crazy? Or are we…?”  
She didn’t let him finish before shaking her head vehemently, and then stopped and looked horrified for a moment—“I mean yes! No, you’re not crazy, but yes, yes, we are.” She wrinkled her nose and then shot him an impish grin. “Actually, you are crazy, but, you know. I still… we still…”  
He hugged her as tight as he could muster.  
“Really?”  
She nodded, eyes shining.  
“Really.”  
He let out the breath he’d been holding and grabbed her hand.  
“Let’s get you home.”  
CJ burst through the doors -- “Would you two hurry up already!” – and pointedly ignoring their joined hands, chivvied them into the lobby to join Toby, who seemed to have perked up again, and Will, who emphatically hadn’t.  
They all tumbled out to the drive, exchanging hugs and slaps on the back and admonishments to actually sleep and not stay up checking the wires.  
Josh mumbled something about needing his coat back, and clambered into a cab after Donna before anyone could raise any objections about them living in two illogical parts of town to share the journey – or any other kinds of objections. Will gave him a weird look, but Will had been giving everyone weird looks all night: Will was overwhelmed, exhausted and confused, and possibly feeling personally responsible for the largest US military operation ever staged on humanitarian grounds, ever.  
As the cab sped away, Josh was still working out what to do next when Donna kicked off her shoes, tucked her feet underneath her and wriggled out of his coat, draping it over both of them like a blanket. He lifted his arm and she nestled against him, finding his other hand with hers and squeezing tight.  
Josh gulped down a lungful of air and swung for the fences.  
“Should we talk about the fact that you just, like, yesterday broke up with a guy you got me to ask out for you?”  
She took a deep breath of her own, and answered without moving or opening her eyes.  
“Yeah. Soon. But not tonight.”  
“This morning.”  
“Whatever.” Her voice was barely audible.  
“I’ll wake you when we get there.”  
“’m’not sleep…” she trailed off.  
Laughing softly, he craned his neck to kiss the top of her head, and remained there, his face buried in her hair. He got the feeling that the few short hours before they had to return to work would be more reminiscent of the long weeks of his recovery when they’d shared hugs and secrets in a nest of sheets and newspaper pages on his couch, rather than a torrid night of passion, but there was plenty of time for that. Jed Bartlet’s second term had begun, and he could be re-elected no more, whatever scandals or successes his staff brought about.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sky above the Washington Monument glow blue and pink – the sun was coming up. It was a new day.

**Author's Note:**

> This was in response to a prompt from the lovely speakfree: "Missing scene. Inauguration: over there Part II. Josh takes Donna home and gets back his coat (or not, it’s up to you) I have a few issues with the way things were handle after this episode, give me some closure woman!" (My heartfelt apologies if this isn't _enough_ closure ;))
> 
> Handily, it also matches the first fic prompt over at the utterly glorious [thefinestmuffinsandbagels](http://thefinestmuffinsandbagels.tumblr.com/tagged/fic_prompt): Inauguration Part III - a post-ep for the season four two-parter.
> 
> Oh, and, [check out the terrible gif](http://lovehermindlovehershoes.tumblr.com/post/19779576267/bradley-whitford-and-janel-moloney-dancing) of them dancing together in their cute inaugural ball finery in what looks like it could be the bullpen, which inspired the small musical interlude herein.


End file.
